Adoption Story: Charlotte & Blake
From the first time I spoke with Charlotte, her heart for adoption as a way to grow their family was clear. Charlotte and Blake went through their adoption journey with their hearts open and were always open to learning and considering situations. Below they share a glimpse into their adoption story that truly highlights the beauty that can be found through difficult circumstances. The wait can be crushing, however they continued to see God’s sovereignty in each time they were asked to be patient and wait a little longer, ultimately bringing them to their sweet son.
Goodness in the Middle
“When we began our journey to start our family, one thing I didn't expect was the amount of time we'd spend waiting. Like most couples, we assumed we'd be able to get pregnant within 6 months to a year of trying. Due to the start of the pandemic, we gave it a go a bit longer than planned before we were able to see a fertility specialist. After pursuing fertility treatments and waiting. Pregnancy test. Waiting. Disappointment. When we decided to pursue adoption, I finally had something to focus on that felt like it was moving us forward! Get a home study done (check!). Make a profile book (check!). Select agencies (check!). Submit applications (check!). When we were finally "live" with our agencies and saw our first situation, it was surreal. It came a few days after we'd been active and we applied to present. Surely this was our little girl. We didn't have to wait long to learn that another family had been selected. We bounced back quickly, thinking we'd have plenty of opportunities to review situations. And then a few months went by with not a single situation coming our way. And so we waited. In the spring we did start to see more situations coming through. We would apply to present and wait. Sometimes we heard in hours, sometimes it was weeks. And we waited. Around Mother's Day, our church started a series called "Goodness in the Middle". Mother's Day can be exceptionally hard if you're still hoping and praying for a child. Each week they explored stories in the Bible where God demonstrated His goodness for those that are faithful during that middle period of waiting. I'd like to say that we were perfectly faithful, giving it all to God, but being the imperfect people that we are, we had moments of doubt. Was there something wrong with us? Did we need a new profile book? Were our letters overwhelming? Should we add more agencies to increase our exposure to situations?
Ironically, when we saw the situation for our now beautiful baby boy, we were waiting to hear back from another situation. We missed the deadline to apply to present, and I was devastated. There was something about his sweet birth family that we felt connected to. I reached out to the agency and they hadn't sent out the books so we were allowed to present. The agency warned us that it might be a longer wait to hear back as it was a holiday weekend. We laughed to ourselves because what was a few extra days at this point? We heard back much faster than expected that the birth family wanted to speak with us, and we were excited. We left the conversation feeling like we'd just talked to old friends. For some reason we weren't nervous this time. When we followed up with the agency after the holiday, we learned we'd been selected! And after all of the waiting, our son decided to come four weeks early. Tiny but perfect and healthy.
When I think about him during our period of waiting, he was there, growing strong inside of his birth mother. With every "not yet" or time of silence, he was there. And He was there as well. If I could give someone in the middle some advice it would be to let yourself feel all the feelings on the rollercoaster that is infertility and adoption, but don't let it consume you. There is so much goodness in the middle, even if you don't quite see it until it's behind you.”
